I hear it every week. “I was so bad this weekend.” “I’m a bad person – I had cookies every day this week.” I know this is shorthand for “I made a nutritional decision that I understand was not the healthiest and that I will now be experiencing the consequences of being hungover/gaining weight/feeling gross.” I get that we’re just condensing this sentiment into a bite-sized chunk of regret, but we’re only sabotaging ourselves with these declarations. YOU ARE NOT BAD! At least, you’re not bad because you ate too much, or drank too much, or ate cake for breakfast instead of oatmeal. You may be bad for a lot of reasons (You kick puppies! You stole that cake from a little old lady taking it to her great-granddaughter’s birthday party!), but what you eat is not one of them. This sort of self-derision doesn’t help anything, and it can even cause damage. There is a behavioral theory that states the more a person thinks about something, the more likely they are to engage in that behavior. If we continue to tell ourselves that we’re bad humans simply because of a nutritional selection, we may come to believe we’re incapable of making a different choice. And that simply isn’t true. But hear it enough from your own mouth, and that lie becomes your truth. It’s what is known as a “negative coping response,” and can lead to a decreased belief in your ability to succeed. Imagine if your best friend told you she ate a piece (or two! or three!) of cake. I can’t imagine most people would immediately berate her and call her “bad.” Instead, we’d offer our friend some support, forgiveness, and maybe a strategy or two to avoid that in the future, if that’s what she’s looking for. That’s what Bright Fitness wants to do for you – be a support system, offering tools and information to help you reach your nutrition and health goals, whatever they are. We believe that every meal or snack is an opportunity to do something great for your body. We know you can succeed and want to encourage you to know that, too. And a great way to start is by replacing any negative self-talk with a more positive inner monologue. Change “I’m bad” to “I made a choice then, and I’m making a different, healthier choice now!”